


Call of Duty:  Joint Warfare

by JohnDoeTheAssassin (jndetke)



Category: Call of Duty (Video Games)
Genre: Al-Qatala, All Sub-series are Now Combined, Atlas Corporation, Baddies Working with Both the Russians and the Americans, Brainwashing, Call of Duty Cinematic Universe, Coalescence/ Tacitus, Conspiracies, Drone Warfare, F/M, Hadir is Implied to be Al-Asad, Hopping on the Hype Train After Seeing Zakhaev in Black Ops Cold War, I Want to Combine This Work With My Prior One if Possible, Intrigue, M/M, Makarov's Inner Circle Connected with Perseus, May Need to Change This After COD 2021 Comes Out, Modern-Day Perseus, Perseus is COD's Villain Shadow Organization, The Federation, This is Currently Part of a Larger Story Idea, Transhumanism, i could go on, perseus - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 14:08:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29951133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jndetke/pseuds/JohnDoeTheAssassin
Summary: Okay, so the tags may merely hint at what this idea is, but basically my mind was blown when **SPOILER** in the Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War campaign, Imran Zakhaev, a villain known to be a part of just the Modern Warfare COD sub-series, made an appearance.  This made me start to wonder, what with all the connection and world-building being done with Warzone as well as the mindfuckery that started being taken to another level in Black Ops IIII before it...  what if Activision is trying to combine the sub-series?  Thus I wanted to give a stab at it with my own fan fiction works!  While this short work is only partially finished, I'm hoping to build on it over time (and maybe even combine and refine it with my A Twi5ted Hi5tory Black Ops short).  Basically it shows how Perseus still exists in the modern day, and essentially consists of the entire collection of baddies in the COD franchise...  thus Modern Warfare, Black Ops, Ghosts, the WWII games, Advanced Warfare, and even (technically) Infinite Warfare can now be part of one continuity (maybe...  it'll require a bit of tweaking existing storylines at the very least).  It also shows who David Mason's wife/ Jessica and Savannah's mother is, and how she works for Perseus.
Relationships: David "Section" Mason/ Original Character, David "Section" Mason/ Raul Menendez
Comments: 6
Kudos: 2





	1. "A Complex Relationship"

**CALL OF DUTY: JOINT WARFARE**

**“A COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP”  
FEDERATION RESEARCH COMPOUND, THE PERUVIAN JUNGLE**

**YEAR 2025  
DAVID MASON**

A flame flickered in front of his face from a lighter, lighting up the night in the middle of a massive rainstorm.

“Wanna smoke, Section?” said Harper.

“I’m trying to cut back lately, Mike,” Mason responded.

“Well, that’s probably a good thing, because break time’s just about over,” Harper said as he took a long inhale from his cigar and watched the lightning brighten the canopy of the Amazon jungle surrounding them. 

Mason smirked as Mike coughed out smoke for a moment before they continued climbing across the rock wall in the middle of the Amazon using their adhesive grip glove gadgets to stick to the wall.

“So, what’s it like knowing that your oldest daughter’s about to graduate high school?”

“Do you have to ask about her right now, Mike?”

“Only because you don’t want me to,” Harper said as he fired his grappling line across a gap in the rock wall. “You still mad that she wants to follow in her mom’s footsteps and not yours?”

“If she’s interested in getting into military R&D like her mother as well, and she dedicates herself to her work, then I’m all for it,” said David. “To be honest, I wish I knew an eighth of the stuff she did when I was her age.”

“But you wanted her to be a soldier like her old man.”

“Says who?” said David.

“Says Salazar,” said Harper, as he swung across the gap and then managed to grab onto the rock wall on the other side.

“Well apparently he’s better at keeping secrets than you are,” David shouted to Harper, “because he was bullshitting you. I don’t want her ending up dead like the way my old man did… or the way I might.”

“Well given you’re telling me now, I guess that means either you’re terrible at bullshitting, or we’re both terrible at keeping secrets,” Mike shouted back to David as David swung to meet him on the other side of the wall.

“No shit. Probably half of the Amazon’s heard us by now,” David muttered.

“Aw, c’mon, Section, don’t take it so hard. There’s no one else out here but the two of us,” said Mike as he climbed upward using his adhesive gloves. As he fired his grapple line to the top of the rock wall at a ledge that went above his head, Harper released his grip and swung outward. “You seem to be a little more bitter than usual after the divorce. Anyway, I heard about your ex’s company, Metamorphosis. They have partnerships with all sorts of PMCs… Atlas, Shadow Company, then the US Military, NATO… They’re trying to gain a lead on the drone race arms race.”

“Yeah, and rumor has it they’re also working on other sorts of technology,” said David.

“Like?”

“Exoskeletons, transhumanism, artificial intelligence…”

“We’re not talking some Skynet level shit, are we? I tell ya man, those robots are gonna be here running circles around us fleshy beings before you know it,” said Harper as he spun around on his grapple line now that it was attached to his belt.

“Probably not, but then again, how the fuck would I know?”

“You could always ask her,” Mike said as he ascended his line.

David sighed, and said, “I’m not doing that,” as he fired his grapple gun to an area of the rock ledge next to the one Mike had attached his grappling hook to and swung out as well.

“What? You have to start out by saying _something_ to her. I mean, think of it this way, Section,” said Harper as they used their grappling lines’ ascender tools so they could zip to the top of the rock wall, “relationships are a lot like the military-industrial complex.”

As Harper followed David after they climbed over the ledge, he continued teasing him. “The military goes to work, uses the guns that the defense industries supply them with. The military then secures more resources while doing its job in wars abroad so the defense industries have the money to make more guns. Essentially the military is in bed with the defense industry, and as long as they both get something out of the relationship besides some good-old explosive chemistry, one can’t exist without the other… Of course, maybe when I’m talking about guns, I actually mean babies? ‘Cause you have to have to have new generations of soldiers to send to war and all…”

At the top of the rock wall where their forward observation post was, David turned around and said, “Harper?”

“Yeah?”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Affirmative,” said Harper as he chuckled a little. Looking away from David, Harper spotted Salazar. “Hey, Salazar, what’s going on, buddy?”

“I’m just trying to block out from my memory your gross-ass metaphor for Section’s relationship issues,” said Salazar, who was staring through his night vision goggles’ binocular vision to get a scope on the compound they were going to infiltrate in the distance.

“Oh Christ,” said Mason as he turned around to greet Salazar, “you had to be here to listen to that too.”

“You couldn’t keep the divorce a secret either, could you?” Salazar said.

“Maybe black operations are the wrong line of work for me,” said David. He and Harper stepped up next to Salazar. Looking out over the edge of the cliff toward the compound, David said, “What’ve we got, Salazar?”

“They’ve got a hell of a lot of weapons down there,” said Salazar. “If the chemical weapons the Federation is rumored to be developing exist, then they might be down there.”

Harper said, “It makes sense to me. Given that there are so many plants in this goddamn jungle, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of them produce poisons lethal enough on their own. But weaponized? They’d give Nova Six a run for its money.”

David said grimly, “Not to mention the nuke that went off in Urzikstan.”

They were all silent for a moment.

Salazar said, “The stock markets plummeted after that due to the threat of oil shortages. Until the global economy manages to switch to renewable energy… the Federation has the monopoly on the petroleum industry. Meaning that Latin America had to unite to defend itself.”

“You think it’s more than a coincidence, Section? You think that the Ultranationalists in Verdansk and the Federation are working together?”

“One way to find out,” said Mason. “Time to prep our wingsuits. We’ve got a limited window of opportunity before the sun comes up.”

They readied their wingsuits and launched into the air, flying over the massive stretch of jungle and several sets of hills, valleys, and rivers beneath them. As they approached the drop point for the compound on the hill above a gushing river beneath, they activated their parachutes and floated into the compound, barely avoiding a set of razor-wired electric fences guarding it.

“Glad we didn’t get turned into _carne asada_ there,” said Harper, which made Salazar frown. David scanned the area for hostiles; they quickly entered the tree line and equipped their M4A1’s with suppressors as they hid in the bushes.

“Shit, we got patrols to our left and right,” said Salazar.

“Salazar, Harper, you take the six guys on the left, I’ll take the five on the right.”

“You sure you can take out five at once?”

“They’re close enough together that I have a chance.”

“Well your aim better not have gotten rusty, Mason,” said Salazar.

The three black ops fired at the Federation patrols. They managed to take them all out before they knew what was going on.

They advanced into the compound, sneaking around and picking off patrols as they advanced. Salazar said, “Harper, our guy on the inside sent me a schematic showing where the security station is. It’s near here. Once we hack their cameras and turrets, we can get into the inner part of the compound.”

“Section, it ok if we split up?”

“Rog’,” said David, “I’m going to head for the compound entrance.”

Harper and Salazar nodded at Mason before they split up; Mason then activated his commando suit’s optical camouflage. He managed to sneak past a massive gathering of troops, and then promptly had to hit the deck as some aerial quad drones passed over him, shining spotlights around. Several soldiers were speaking to each other in Spanish.

 _They must’ve found the bodies,_ David thought. _We don’t have much time. C’mon, Harper…_

The troops began prepping their turrets and other drones when the turrets went offline all of a sudden. The Federation colonel in charge of the compound shouted something into his cellphone. David managed to slip past under the cover of some deactivated tank drones. He hid in an outpost building for a moment where a guard was browsing the Internet on his laptop to look at the mysterious Odysseus social media personality’s recent posts.

 _The Messiah of the 99 Percent…_ Mason thought. _Yet he’s threatening the US and a lot of Western nations. Then again, with the global economy collapsing, a lot of anti-elite sentiment is going around…_ Mason quickly grabbed the guard, slit his throat, and let the guard’s corpse slink out of its chair to the floor.

Mason hid in some nearby bushes as more quad drones passed by, then proceeded to make a beeline for the tunnel leading to the inner compound. He then used his suppressed M4A1 to kill the guards hanging out by the entrance blast door, and then the two snipers watching from their guard towers next to the tunnel entrance.

Mason quickly went to the blast doors and used his Data Glove Pairing to hack the locks to the doors open. He then entered the elevator behind it. 

“We’ll hold the fort out here, Mason, go on ahead,” said Harper.

“The double agent should meet you on the inside and let you in undetected,” said Salazar.

“He have a name?” said David.

“Unfortunately not one I know. I’ve never seen him,” said Salazar. “The passphrase he’ll say to you when he approaches you is ‘the coffee they offer here tastes like pencil shavings.’ You should respond with the passphrase, ‘maybe they have some good stuff from Lima in the lounge.’”

“Got it, thanks Salazar,” Mason said as he hacked the elevator’s controls and the elevator car descended into the compound.

As David exited the elevator, he saw two soldiers hanging out and smoking cigars. One of them had his back to him; the other saw Mason, but rather than attack him, he merely nodded.

Mason nodded back, crept up behind the guard with his back to him, and quickly snapped his neck.

“God, the coffee they offer here tastes like pencil shavings,” said the guard in the Federation uniform. Oddly enough, he looked more Arabic than Hispanic.

“Maybe they have some good stuff from Lima in the lounge.”

“You’re the agent they sent. Good. I’m Farid,” said the man.

“I’m one of the agents,” said Mason.

“Quickly, get dressed into his uniform. It won’t only be a disguise against humans but against drones, laser tripwires, and door locks as well, due to the RFID chip stitched into it.”

Mason nodded, got dressed into the Federation uniform disguise, and hid the guard’s body in a nearby locker.

As they walked through the base, Farid and David talked in Spanish. Fortunately, David was fluent.

“According to a scientist I talked to, they’re developing a chemical weapon here that kills people but not other species due to its poison coming from an exotic plant native to the Amazon. They plan to use it in some sort of massive attack. What the attack is, I’m not sure.”

“I’ll get to the bottom of it,” said Mason. “Do you know who owns this compound?”

“Yes. I’ve managed to get close to him. He’s a man who was a founding member of the Federation. A former Nicaraguan gun runner whose cartel had its heyday during _la primera guerra fria._ His name is Raul Menendez.”

David froze in his tracks.

_That name…_

And then, he had a vivid flashback from his childhood. That hateful face, staring down at him through the haze of his vision at the time.

_“I will not kill you, boy. Now, you suffer with me.”_

“You said Raul Menendez was a founding member of the Federation?”

“Yes. Why? Did you know him already?”

Mason grimaced. 

“Menendez killed my father.”

“Shit,” said Farid, “you’re David Mason. Raul told me about you. He said he has plans for you.”

Mason said nothing.

“We need to move fast,” said Farid.

“Can you get me into their command center so I can access their computer systems?”

“Yes,” said Farid, “although it will take some improvisation. I don’t have clearance to go there, and they might get suspicious of us.”

Mason crossed his arms. “What do you have in mind?”

Farid said, “Chances are you’re not going to like it.”

**METAMORPHOSIS MAIN CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND**

**YEAR 2025  
CAITLIN SAVAGE-MASON**

In the laboratories in the basement of the Metamorphosis building, the company’s logo—two M’s that flipped to turn into W’s, so that they gradually became MM, then MW, then WW, then WM, and then MM again— flickered on several TV screens and computer consoles around Caitlin as she continued working on her current project. Right now, she was programming the software for the android prototype that was meant to be the basis for the transhumanist model that Metamorphosis’s higher-ups were pushing for.

She put a hand to her head for a moment; her blue eyes were bloodshot from looking at screens all day. She was about to finish cleaning up the code in one of the child elements of the program connecting its Direct Neural Interface to the artificially intelligent hivemind when she got a call on her cell phone.

It was Savannah.

Caitlin quickly picked up the phone in one hand while continuing to type with the other. “Hi, Savannah, I’m at work. Is it urgent?”

“Not exactly,” said Savannah. “I just wanted you to know that I got an internship at Metamorphosis lined up for the summer.”

Caitlin was shocked; she hadn’t heard about this at all. Then again, Savannah was a prodigy in the making, and had always been uncharacteristically independent for someone her age. Hell, sometimes it seemed like even she wasn’t as smart as Savannah. “Really? That’s great, honey, congratulations!”

“Thanks Mom.”

“Is there anything else you want to talk about?”

“Are you or dad going to be at my graduation ceremony?”

“Knowing your dad, probably not. As for me… I promise I’ll try and make time to be there, sweetheart. You deserve more support from us than you’re getting.”

“I’d appreciate it. I’d rather that Jessica not be the only family member there. She gets into enough trouble on her own as is.”

“Jessica may be a bit of a troublemaker, but she looks up to you, Savannah.”

“It seems to me like she takes after Dad more than anything.”

_That is true,_ said Caitlin. She told Savannah, “How about this. If I get done with work early tonight, I’ll try and help you prepare for the ceremony.”

“When was the last time you got done early with your work, Mom?”

Ironically, Caitlin was saved when one of her colleagues, Emile, called out to her. “Sorry, sweetie, I have to go now. I’ll call you later.” 

Upon hanging up, Caitlin sighed, and ran her hands through her hair. “What do you want, Emile?”

“What I want is for you to stop talking on the phone and playing with your hair and push your code to the cloud so we can get this android up and running.”

 _Prick,_ Caitlin thought to herself. She said to him, “Right, give me a second, I’m about to do that.”

“The CEO told me that he wants you to give him a status update on the project at 6.”

“What? Why me?” said Caitlin out of surprise.

Emile shrugged his shoulders. “He didn’t say.”

_Great,_ thought Savannah, _looks like I’ll be getting home late again._ Looking at her smartphone’s time, she said, “It’s almost 6.”

“To be honest I’m surprised you noticed. So, hurry up and push your code to the cloud so you don’t keep the boss waiting! Not to mention some of us have lives outside of work, you know.”

“Right,” Caitlin said, and got back on her computer and opened her command line interface application she designed to do so.

“Pfft, the user interface on that terminal is outdated,” said Emile. “Reminds me of the ones used during the first cold war.”

“Speaking of which, how old did you say you were again?” said Caitlin sarcastically. “No wonder they call you Senior Engineer.”

Emile frowned at this.

After typing in a few more commands, Caitlin smiled and said in with a mockingly enthusiastic tone, “Done!”

Emile muttered something under his breath, then walked away.

_I wish he would just fucking retire,_ she thought. _He’s leaving all the work to the interns, associate and mid-level engineers, along with the actual competent senior ones like me._

Caitlin sighed. W _hatever. Hopefully the interns didn’t screw up anything with any accidental commits or merges to the wrong branch of the cloud. I need to get up to see Arnold,_ she thought. _I wonder why he wanted a status update from me in particular._

She headed out from the laboratory entrance blast doors and waited for the full body biometric scanner to finish before she could head to the elevator.

As the elevator ascended, her mind wandered while she looked out at the skyline of Geneva. She began to think about David.

_Should I really have divorced him?_ She thought. _He was a good husband… and father. Frankly I’m starting to be more absent from the girls’ lives with my work than he is. If anything, I’m just worried about Jessica. I don’t think she’s cut out to be a soldier, but she looks up to him._

Caitlin’s thought had to end as her elevator ride had reached Arnold’s penthouse.

She walked into the penthouse, where a news anchor was talking on a TV about the strange “Odysseus” social media personality, the Cordis Die riots, and the recession again, as well as some of the latest policy implementations of President Bosworth in response to said crises.

“Bonjour, Marie,” she said to Arnold’s secretary.

“Caitlin? What are you doing up here?”

“Arnold said he wanted to see me at 6.”

“All right, let me check something real quick,” said Marie as she typed on her computer. She then frowned. “That’s strange… you’re not on the list.”

“The list?” said Caitlin. “What list?”

“You… don’t know? He didn’t tell you anything?” said Marie.

“Um… Marie, do you have any idea why Arnold wanted to see me in particular right now?”

Marie said, “Ah... I think I understand what’s going on. Out of all people, I never thought he’d choose you. I’ll give you a clearance badge.”

Marie opened a safe behind her desk, and pulled out a badge with an odd-looking logo on it. “Go on in,” she said, handing it to Caitlin. “I’ll unlock the doors for you.”

“Thanks,” said Caitlin in confusion as she walked into Arnold’s private office.

“Arnold?” said Caitlin as she entered Arnold’s office, only to find he wasn’t there. “Hello?”

_Strange,_ she thought, _it’s 6 PM local time. Maybe he’s running late._

Caitlin then heard a conversation coming from across the hall in his conference room; one of the voices participating was Arnold’s.

“…so, you’re going to be passing the spy off to me, General?” said a quiet, sinister voice with a Russian accent.

“Yes, his name is Alexei Borodin,” said the voice of an older American man.

“And his real name?”

“They call him ‘Alex’, but his true identity is Gary Sanderson. He was involved with the team that took Barkov and his operation down. I’ll send you his profile information.”

“Good. Then I assume Global Fission is ago,” said another American male voice, this one sounding younger and more energetic than the previous, only slightly though. The voice sounded familiar.

_Wait, that’s Jonathan Irons from the Atlas corporation!_ Caitlin thought. _Is Arnold in the middle of a business meeting that’s running late or something?_

“Yes, Jonathan,” said the Russian. “Fregata will distribute the precious cargo to the five bases of operations for Global Fission. Then Hadir will act as our flagman. He will take care of the rest. Are your units ready to converge on the five targets, Hadir?” said the Russian.

“Yes, Vladimir, but… this business with Alex concerns me.”

“How so, Hadir?” said another voice, this one sensual and filled with a volatile emotional undertone but also a sense of weariness; the person the voice belonged to spoke with a heavy Hispanic accent.

“He… he might catch onto our plans through me.”

The Hispanic man chuckled quietly for a moment. “Hadir, my friend _…_ ” said the voice, “do not be concerned about your old friends… As for your sister… she will be alright. _Nosotros somos tu familia ahora._ (We are your family now.) _Tienes hacer este sacrificio para nosotros… para que podemos hacer un mundo mejor._ You have to make this sacrifice for us, Hadir. For Perseus. Help us make a better world.”

_Wait a minute… what on Earth are they talking about? It doesn’t sound like a typical business meeting,_ Caitlin thought as she approached the door to the conference room.

“I know. I’m not worried about my sister,” said the nervous Arabic man who kept being called Hadir.

“Good,” said the Russian.

“Very,” said Arnold. “I assume all of you will meet with Tian Zhao.”

“Yes, sir,” said the Russian.

“Yes, sir,” said the American.  
“Yes, sir,” said the Arab.

“Of course, Arnold,” said Jonathan Irons.

“ _Sí, Arnold_ ,” said the Hispanic man.

“Good,” said Arnold. “You are to do so at separate times. Be discreet. He must not know the true nature of our—”

“…um, Arnold?” Caitlin said as she walked into the room. To her surprise, the men Arnold Meyer—the CEO of Metamorphosis—was talking to were all holograms projected onto the seats, although there were bodyguards in black suits and ties with sunglasses that were in the room, toting automatic weapons. 

Everyone in the room looked at her. The Russian was a man with bloodshot eyes and a furrowed brow with slick black hair. The American was an older man with graying hair and a mustache. The Arab, Hadir, was a younger man with a large beard. Jonathan Irons was there, along with several others whom she didn’t recognize that were also holograms. This was a futuristic teleconference of some kind.

But the most striking character of the group was the Hispanic man, who had a missing right eye with a cybernetic glass eye to replace it. For a split-second, she swore the Hispanic man smiled slightly at her.

“It seems we have an uninvited guest,” said the Russian.

“Or is she a new recruit?” said the American.

“You’ve got some explaining to do, Arnold,” said Irons.

“Caitlin,” said Arnold nervously, “what the hell are you doing here?”

“Um… Emile told me that I was supposed to give you a status report on the new AI prototype at 6.”

Arnold put a hand to his head for a moment. “I’m going to fire that fucking moron. I meant 6 _AM,_ not 6 _PM!_ ”

Caitlin’s face went red. _Shit,_ she thought, _I’m not supposed to be here right now._

“How did you get in here, Caitlin?” said Arnold, frowning for a moment.

“Marie let me into your office as usual…” she responded, “but she gave me this clearance badge. Not sure why.” She showed the badge to Arnold.

Arnold wiped the sweat off of his forehead for a moment. “Right,” said Arnold, “this was all a misunderstanding, Caitlin. You can go home now. I’ll see you in my office at 6 AM tomorrow. Don’t be late—”

“Nonsense, Arnold,” said the Hispanic man. The others turned toward him out of confusion. “She has the clearance badge. She’s been invited for the time being, so she should be treated as one of us. _Como se llama usted?_ What is your name?”

“Um… Caitlin Savage,” she answered uneasily. “I’m a senior engineer in charge of Metamorphosis’s transhumanism and artificial intelligence R&D teams.”

The Hispanic man grinned. “The pleasure is all mine, Señora Savage,” said the man. “Consider the rest of us as friends. I’m sure we will get to know each other better in time.”

“Nice to meet you, Caitlin,” said Jonathan. “Arnold speaks highly of you and your work.”

The American, Russian, and Arab merely nodded, along with the rest of the holographic people in the teleconference.

Caitlin nodded at the group, smiled, and looked away nervously, thinking, _what the hell is going on…_

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Caitlin,” said Arnold. “Also, make sure to turn your clearance badge in to Marie.”

“…right. Talk to you tomorrow, Arnold,” said Caitlin as she headed out of the conference room. 

As she speed-walked out of the conference room, she couldn’t help but overhear what they were talking about after.

“You should’ve invested in more security for this meeting, Arnold.”

“I- I didn’t know she was going to come in. It’s my secretary’s fault, please, she doesn’t know what’s going on—”

“We can’t take that risk, Arnold. You know that,” said Jonathan.

“But she’s my best employee! Not to mention that her daughter is a new intern—”

“One or two of your employees is nothing in the grand scheme of our plans,” said the Russian.

“I agree with Makarov and Irons. She needs to be dealt with. She knows too much. She could compromise Perseus,” said the American.

**_Dealt_** _with?_ Caitlin shivered at the implications of this.

“General Shepherd, with all due respect, I don’t think she heard—”

“Relax, Mr. Meyer,” said the Hispanic man. “Vladimir, you said it yourself. It doesn’t take the most powerful nations on Earth to create world peace. Just the will of a single man.”

“What I said is drastically different from what you said when it comes to the ‘world peace’ part.”

“But she is not a single man, she is a single woman, _sí?_ ” said the Hispanic man.

“Please tell me you’re not infatuated…” said Arnold.

“That’s not what I mean. I know that Savage is merely her maiden name. Her real surname is Mason.”

_Wait… **what?**_ Caitlin stopped in her tracks for a moment.

“You know her?” said Arnold.

“No, but I know her former husband well.” The Spaniard laughed as he said, “For those souls who have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me... Some work of noble note may yet be done…”

Shocked, Caitlin thought as she headed toward the door out of the penthouse, _I don’t understand… How does that man know David? And what he said just a second ago sounded familiar, like a passage from a poem, only I hardly ever read them… oh my god. He’s…_

Panicking, Caitlin put a hand to her mouth. She took a moment to try and calm down, and pretend everything that had just happened was normal. She then took a deep breath, and walked out of the penthouse to hand the badge to Marie.

Marie was on the phone. “Yes, Arnold… I understand. She’s on her way now.”

“Here’s the clearance badge,” she said to Marie, her hand trembling slightly as she held it out for Marie to take.

“Right… um, thank you, Caitlin,” said Marie as she took the badge from her.

Caitlin nodded, and headed toward the elevator.

As the doors closed after she hit the button to descend to the lobby, Caitlin looked out at the glowing colors of Geneva’s night skyline and thought apprehensively, _I have to talk to David about this. Maybe he knows what the hell is going on. As for Savannah… Dear God, what have I just gotten our family into?_

_... ... ... ... ..._


	2. "Ascension"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David Mason learns that his daughters, Savannah and Jessica, are kidnapped. Meanwhile, he starts to learn more about Perseus from his wife, Caitlin, and warns Captain Price and Task Force 141 as they are about to be betrayed by General Shepherd. In the meantime, they go to rescue Alex from the gulag in Verdansk... only to find heavy resistance along the way.

**“ASCENSION”**

**COLOSSUS  
YEAR 2025  
DAVID MASON**

David Mason was with Caitlin, Jessica, and Savannah again.

“Honey?” said Caitlin, who was relaxing by the side of one of the pools in Colossus, reading a magazine about _the Messiah of the 99 Percent._ “Have you seen Savannah and Jessica?”

Savannah stuck her head out from the pool. “Someone say my name?”

Caitlin and Savannah laughed at this.

“Last I saw Jessica, she was in the mall, buying some ice cream. Hopefully she’s not causing trouble again.”

“I saw her flirting with some guy with a mohawk,” said Savannah. “He won her a toy hammer at one of the game stands.”

“I’ll go look for her in a second,” said David, when he saw her appear with the very guy Savannah was talking about. He did, in fact, have a mohawk.

“Jessica, um… you’ve got ice cream on your shirt…” joked Savannah.

“That’s Donnie’s fault,” said Jessica.

“Was not,” laughed Donnie. “You bumped into me on purpose.”

“Well, regardless, we’re going to have to buy you a new dress,” said Caitlin, “because it looks like you ruined it. And what did I tell you about running off?”

“I’m not a kid anymore, mom,” said Jessica, rolling her eyes.

“Your parents aren’t helicopter parents, are they?” the boy Jessica called Donnie muttered to her.

“At least one of them isn’t,” said Jessica. “My dad’s pretty cool. He’s in the army.”

“No shit?” said Donnie, raising his eyebrows.

“Jessica, what did I tell you about going around talking about your dad’s career?”

David smiled, and thought, _this almost feels too good to be… true…_

“To be fair to Jessica, she’s not wrong about _su papa_ … is she, David?” said a familiar Hispanic man.

“What?” thought David in confusion.

“Strange, isn’t it?” said the Hispanic man. “Knowing that your family’s in danger. Knowing that there’s nothing you can do to save them. It’s a feeling I know well. It’s a feeling _tu papa_ would know… if I hadn’t killed him before he knew you had been taken.”

David looked over at his family. They were ignoring what was going on now, and seemed distant, blurry, as if they were in another world entirely.

“You should have stayed in retirement, David. You should’ve spent more time with your family while you had the chance. And most importantly…”

“No…” said David, shaking his head in fear.

The Hispanic man looked at him, with his glass eye gleaming, and his good eye full of hate.

“…you should have killed me back in Haiti,” said Raul Menendez.

“David?” said Savannah. She was standing with the girls; the boy Jessica was with had gone. The crowd in Colossus was starting to look up at something.

“Dad?” said Savannah.

“No!” said David.

“Study Ulysses… and be ready,” Raul said, and looked up admiringly as the ground began to rumble, as if he was looking into the eyes of God.

David looked around. The crowd was running for their lives as a massive cloud of green gas appeared in the sky, moving rapidly towards Colossus.

“Wake up, Dad,” said Jessica.

“Cordis Die.” Raul cocked his SPAS-12 shotgun and aimed it at his family.

“NO!” screamed David as he ran towards his family.

“Wake up!” shouted Jessica as the gas enveloped them until they disappeared.

… … … … …

**_U.S.S. OBAMA_ ** **  
YEAR 2025  
DAVID MASON**

“NO!” Mason screamed as he woke up, breathing heavily with cold sweats.

He looked around. He was in his quarters on the _U.S.S. Obama._ He had dozed off in his chair while working on his computer.

The door opened. It was Salazar and Harper. 

“You alright, Section?” said Salazar.

“Yeah… I’m fine,” David lied.

“You sure suck at lying, Mason,” said Harper as he smoked a cigar.

“Not in here, Mike,” said David.

“Then come out,” said Harper. His face grew serious. “Briggs called us in for a debrief. All hands on deck for this one.”

“What’s going on?”

“You haven’t seen the news?” said Salazar.

Harper gestured with his head for Mason to follow them.

David sighed, and got out of his chair.

They were looking at the news.

“…a terrorist attack occurred last night in Colossus…”

“…a chemical agent of some kind was deployed aboard the floating resort by unknown infiltrators…”

“…casualties are in the tens of thousands…”

“…survivors seem to have gone into some sort of psychotic breakdown, attacking each other…”

“…warning to viewers, the footage is disturbing…”

“…a video was released by Al-Qatala-Aljahdid’s leader, Khaled Al-Asad. The terrorist organization based in Urzikstan appears to be claiming responsibility for this horrifying event…”

The footage changed from a satellite and news crew camera views of Colossus to footage of the ultimatum video released by Al-Asad.

“…to the leaders of the free world, we give you one choice: step down from your places of power. Remove all NATO troops from our lands. Send 100 billion dollars to our desired location in Urzikstan. Or suffer further consequences. We are the Killers. And we are not afraid to kill millions of your people to achieve our goals…”

“Turn that motherfucker off,” said Briggs as he put his hands on one of the tables in the briefing room. “What’ve we got on these cocksuckers, General Shepherd?”

“Al-Qatala-Aljahdid, ‘The New Killers’. They formed under a new leader after Omar Sulaman was killed in Urzikstan at his home…” said the General. “Khaled al-Asad. We don’t know much about this new leader, but we do know is that he’s the Ultranationalists’ proxy in this fight.”

“General,” said David, “what about the men in the SAS? Captain Price’s squad. I hear they’ve made friends in Urzikstan that could help us in the proxy war.”

“Well, you’re half right,” said General Shepherd. “They have made friends, but they’re no friends of ours. “They worked with a man on the CIA. Station Chief Laswell’s agent. Known as ‘Alex.’ Recently he was sent undercover, or so I’m told, to work for an organization embedded within the Ultranationalists’ ranks… an organization known as Perseus.”

David looked at General Shepherd in disbelief.

“Miss me with that bullshit,” said Briggs. “Perseus is dead. A fairy tale of the first cold war. Not to mention he’s a person, not an organization.”

“No,” said Shepherd, “Perseus is real. David’s father and Frank Woods can attest to it, as he was part of the team that tried to hunt the organization down in the 80s.”

“That true, Section?” said Briggs.

“Yes, sir,” said David, frowning at General Shepherd.

“Unfortunately, much like the rest of Captain Price’s task force after what they pulled in Urzikstan, Verdansk, and Georgia, we have to assume that this ‘Alex’s’ loyalties have been turned. It makes sense after he lost his leg in a mission and was abandoned. So, we’re disavowing them,” said Shepherd. 

“Wait, what?” said Harper.

“But why, sir?” said David.

“Look at this.”

They saw security camera footage of several Russian Ultranationalists, along with Alex, coming out of an elevator and shooting civilians. Then footage of Alex bleeding out where Delta Force found him trying to escape.

“There were rich individuals from nations all over on Colossus, including Russia and China. The public can’t know that he’s working for the CIA. But it gets worse. Not long after he was taken to a black site in Yemen for interrogation by Delta Force, he disappeared from custody, along with a member of Perseus’s inner circle known as Yuri. According to members of Delta Force, the people who took him were working for Al-Qatala.”

“So, what does Perseus have to do with all this?” said Briggs.

“I’m not entirely sure. But this man,” said Shepherd while pointing to an image of a Russian man with slick black hair, bloodshot eyes, and a furrowed brow on camera, “I believe to be their leader. Facial recognition identifies him as one Vladimir Makarov.”

“Sir, even if America and the SDC are both disavowing involvement with this chemical attack,” said Salazar, “in the eyes of the public, we’ve all got blood on our hands, and we do. So are we at war?”

“Not yet,” said Shepherd, “but if we want to avoid starting one, we have to make our next steps with caution. Our nations’ leaders, including President Bosworth, are in talks to try to prevent World War Three. It’s not going well right now, but if we can prove our innocence by finding and bringing in Alex and Captain Price’s task force, things might get better for the time being.”

 _I don’t like this,_ thought David. “With all due respect, sir, I thought Task Force 141 was both your and Kate Laswell’s handiwork.”

“They were. Until they started disobeying orders left and right,” said Shepherd.

“So we’re cutting them loose?”

“They’re loose ends, Mason. Loose ends need to be cut. Why are you siding with them?”

“I know them, sir. They want to bring down Perseus just as much as we do. Perhaps they’re onto something that we aren’t—”

“And that’s why I’ve told the Joint Chiefs of Staffs we need to bring them in. Isn’t that right, Mr. Secretary?”

David said nothing in response to this.

The Secretary of Defense came on a hologram call over the table. “General Shepherd, you warned us. We should’ve listened. You’ve got a blank check.”

General Shepherd said, “Good. I’m going to spend every cent of it bringing Perseus into the light.”

Briggs said, “All right then. Let’s go get these Perseus cocksuckers. Mason, come see me in my office later today.”

“Yes, sir,” said Mason.

Mason’s phone rang.

 _What the hell… Why’s Caitlin calling me?_ Thought Mason as he looked at his phone’s caller ID.

“It sounds like you’ve got an important call to take, David,” said Shepherd.

“Yes, sir…” said David out of confusion as he walked out of the room and talked to Caitlin.

“Caitlin, why are you calling now of all times? The world’s about to go to war and I’m at work!”

“It’s the girls, David… Jessica, Savannah, they’re gone!”

“ _What?_ ”

“I think… I think Perseus kidnapped them!”

Mason’s face went white. _No…_ Then he realized something. “Wait, Caitlin, how do you know about Perseus?”

“My boss, Arnold Meyer… I… I accidentally ended up seeing him meet with them! This is all my fault…”

“You’re saying the CEO of Metamorphosis is working for Perseus?”

“Worse. I think he might be its leader,” she said. “I heard someone call him by another last name… Mengele.”

 _Jesus fuck… he could be a descendent of Josef Mengele. He was involved with Ascension, the Nazi group responsible for the Russian numbers program that brainwashed my father… as well as experimenting on victims of the Holocaust._ “Listen, honey…” said David, “if there’s anything you can remember from that meeting that could be of use to me, tell me now. And if you remember it later, tell me then.”

“I remember the faces and names of some of the people at the meeting. One of them was Jonathan Irons, you know, the CEO of Atlas Corporation… then there was an Arabic man named Hadir…”

_Hadir’s with Perseus? Shit, that’s really bad._

“…a Russian with bloodshot eyes and an intimidating stare… Vlad- Vlad-something?”

“Vladimir Makarov?”

“That’s it. How did you know?”

“I’ll explain later. Anyone else?”

“Yes, a Hispanic man with a glass eye. I think he’s the leader of Cordis Die.”

 _Dear fucking god,_ Mason thought, _he must’ve recognized her._

“…and an American man, a General… Shepherd?”

Mason’s face went even whiter.

“Did you say Shepherd?”

“Yes. Why?”

Mason looked around nervously.

“Honey, listen very closely to me. You are in mortal danger. Do not trust _anyone_ you work with. Do not trust anyone _I_ work with. And most importantly, do not trust _any_ of the people that were in that meeting. Especially not the Hispanic man with the glass eye. His name is Raul Menendez. He—” Mason’s voice broke a little for a second before he said, “—he’s the man who killed my father.”

“Damn it. Should I run?”

“No, I don’t think so…” said Mason.

“Why not?”

“Because they’ll find you. General Shepherd is a high-ranking general in the US Military. He’s got people everywhere, and he’s got a blank check. Besides, if they wanted to kill you, you’d likely already be dead. Fuck… I think they may try to use the girls as leverage against us.”

“Oh my _god!_ ”

“Honey, don’t panic,” said David. “I’m gonna get to the bottom of this, and I’m gonna get the girls back. Whatever it takes. If you ever think you’re in danger, send me a signal.”

“Of course, David… Listen… I’m sorry I divorced you. I shouldn’t have.”

“I know. It’s okay. I love you. I have to go now,” said David.

“All right. Promise me you’ll get them back, David.”

David hung up.

Salazar and Harper came to check on him. “You all right, Section?” said Salazar.

David shook his head no.

“Who was that?”

“My girls… They’ve been taken.”

“Shit,” said Salazar, “I’m sorry… Do you think it was—”

“I know it was,” said David. “I’m gonna kill that sick fuck.”

Harper said, “There’s not much we can do right now though, Section, because Shepherd’s assigning us to investigate an old safe house of Makarov’s in Verdansk.”

“Don’t trust Shepherd,” said David.

Salazar frowned at this.

“What? Why?” said Harper.

“I’ll explain later,” said Mason. “Listen Mike, is there anyone you know who we can trust to go search for the girls?”

Harper looked around the room. “Speaking of Perseus… I don’t know if you ever heard of a different fairy tale… Actually, it’s more like a ghost story.”

“What do you mean?”

“I know a guy. His name’s Elias. He was part of the original team that took on the Federation.” Harper said, “They call themselves Ghosts.”

Mason said, “All right. Make the call, Mike. I’m going to try and warn Price’s team.”

“Rog’,” said Harper.

“I hope you know what you’re getting into, David,” said Salazar.

“I don’t,” said David, “and right now, I couldn’t give less of a shit.”

  
Walking back into the briefing room, Harper, Salazar, and Mason looked at Shepherd.

“You three all done with your goddamn social outing?” said Briggs.

“Yes sir,” said Mason with a frown.

“Good,” said Briggs, “because we’ve got a cocksucker to kill.”

… … … … …

**THE GULAG, VERDANSK**

**YEAR 2025**

**KYLE “GAZ” GARRICK**

Kyle was with Captain Price, Soap, Ghost, Farah, and the others aboard Nikolai’s chopper.

“You sure Alex is in this gulag somewhere, Captain?” said Farah.

“MacMillan confirmed it,” said Price.

“You sure that was a good idea, though, John? Aren’t we on everyone’s shit-list?” said Soap.

“He owed me one for Pripyat. I called it in.”

“Can’t argue with that,” said Ghost.

Captain Price got a call on his smartphone.

“You gonna take that, sir?” said Kyle. “Or is it not worth the risk?”

“Oh, it’s worth the risk all right,” said Price, as he picked up the phone and said, “Mason.”

“John, you’re in serious danger.”

“That’s everywhere I go.”

“No, you don’t understand! You have to leave Verdansk, now. Shadow Company is being sent after you, all of them! Task Force 141’s been disavowed!”

“You going to skip to the good part, Section?”

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment. “It’s Perseus. And General Shepherd’s working with them.”

“Bugger…” said Price. “Are you positive?”

“My wife sent me a sketch of him. He was meeting with the other members of Perseus in her boss’s office.”

“Wait a bloody minute… Are you telling me that Arnold Meyer, one of the richest men on Earth, is working with Perseus too?”

“Worse,” said David. “She suspects he’s the leader.”

Price said, “Thanks for warning me, mate.”

“John, do you know anything about Alex’s undercover mission to infiltrate the Russian branch of Perseus?”

“Not much. But we’re about to find out. We’re going on a rescue op.”

“All right, John,” said Mason. “One more thing, though…”

“Yeah?”

“If you see two girls anywhere that look like me and Caitlin… one is blonde, the other raven-haired… promise me you’ll bring them to me. Alive, please.”

“We’ll get your kids back, Mason. Count on it,” said Price.

“You’re a lifesaver, Cap,” said David. “All right, I have to go now.”

“As do we,” said Price as he hung up.

They were approaching the gulag.

“Chopper’s taking heavy fire!” said Nikolai. “The landing may get a bit bumpy, friends!”

“Tell me something I don’t know, Nikolai!” shouted Soap as the gulag surface-to-air missile defenses started to fire at them.

Kyle said to Price, “You think Laswell’s still gonna help us, Price?”

“Not like we have anyone else to help us right now, Gaz. She’s got a hacker friend who’s going to help us hack into gulag security. Ghost, you’re going to be the one who helps plug them in.”

“Got it, sir,” said Ghost.

Farah said to Price, “You think Alex’s still alive, sir?”

“He’s a hard bastard. He’ll be just fine.”

Nikolai said, “I’m afraid I will have to let you off with a fast rope here, my friends! I am not getting paid enough to crash my plane!”

Price nodded, and the others slid down the fast rope one by one until they managed to land on one of the towers on the gulag roof.

Kyle went last, and almost got thrown off the edge of the gulag as Nikolai had to make a massive swerve to dodge incoming SAM fire while he was halfway down the fast rope.

He crashed hard onto the edge of the tower they were on.

“You broken?” said Price, offering Kyle his hand.

“I’m good,” said Kyle as he took a breath, grabbed Price’s hand, and got back on his feet.

“Let’s go, we’re sitting ducks out here!” shouted Ghost.

They used their M14 EBR sniper rifles along with a nearby RPG to clear out the SAM sites and snipers in the other towers before rappelling down the side of the tower.

Alarms were sounding off throughout the gulag. They fought their way through the roof of the gulag until they reached the security checkpoint next to the gulag entrance. 

“Give Ghost some suppressing fire so he can open the security gates!” shouted Price. 

They fired at the guards on the roof of the security center building while Ghost busted open the door to the building and cleared it out. 

Ghost then plugged in the USB drive Laswell gave them to upload the malware into the gulag security systems.

The security gates opened inch by inch.

“You’ve got to be shitting me…” said Gaz.

“Ghost, can’t you make the doors open faster?” shouted Price over comms.

“Negative, sir, but you can try pulling if it’ll make you feel better.”

“Cheeky bastard.” Price and the others waited at the doors while firing at the incoming guards closing in on their position with their M4A1s and underbarrel grenade launchers.

Once the gates guarding the entrance opened fully, they headed under with Ghost following from behind.

They quickly managed to reach the security station within the middle of one of the cell blocks in the gulag, where there was an arsenal of weapons and riot shields on the wall as well as a computer hub to access the gulag’s security systems. 

As well as dozens of guards surrounding them in the cell block hallways that the catwalks connected the security station.

Ghost plugged the USB chip into the computer, and started typing.

Price said, “You got access to the station’s security cameras yet, Ghost?”

“Working on it… this hardware is _ancient_!”

Kyle said, “We’re getting surrounded, sir!”

“Gaz, catch!” said Soap as he tossed Kyle a riot shield.

Kyle quickly shielded himself from gunfire coming from the cell block corridor he was facing while firing around the shield with his M1911. Meanwhile, Soap was firing a barrage of gunfire at the prison guards (and some prisoners) with his M4A1, and Farah had grabbed a nearby SPAS-12 shotgun and a set of grenades, and started firing and chucking them at them.

“Got it!” said Ghost. “According to the prison archives, Alex is prisoner 6-2-5. Schematics say he’s in solitary confinement, somewhere in the basement. Wait… I’ve got him on the security camera feeds… Shit… he looks like he’s in bad shape.”

“Will he live?” said Farah.

“Hard to tell; looks like they tortured him a lot while he was down here.”

“Bastards,” she muttered under her breath. “We’ll make them pay.”

“We’ll get him out, Farah,” said Soap. “Don’t give up hope yet.”

“I don’t plan to,” said Farah.

“All right, I’m opening the cell block doors. There’s going to be a spot where you’re going to have to rappel down to the bottom of the cell block; you’re going to have to work your way around,” said Ghost. “I’ll help you navigate from there.”

“Got it,” said Price. “Kyle, on me.”

Kyle nodded, and they started shooting their way through the cell blocks.

Kyle looked down into the darkness of the basement below at the rappel point Ghost talked about, where part of the gate-like wall and railings blocking the drop had been destroyed. “You going to say it before I do, sir?”

Kyle could see Price smirk slightly at this remark behind his mustache.

“Bravo Six, going dark,” Price said, as they rappelled down into the basement and turned on their night vision goggles.

Down there, more guards were approaching with riot shields, while also hiding in cells both in the sides of the hallways and in the balconies above the filthy communal bathrooms.

Kyle and Price shot down as many guards as they can while cooking their grenades and chucking them at the guards with the riot shields, bashing them with their own shields when necessary.

“Shit, we’re starting to get outnumbered, sir!” said Kyle.

“Sir!” said Ghost. “We’ve got a problem…”

“We’ve got a ton of ‘em, Simon. Which one are you talking about?” said Price.

“Nikolai’s been monitoring Russian radio traffic. The Ultranationalists don’t want us getting our hands on Alex. According to what he knows of the codes they’re using… they might try to bomb us with the same chemicals used in Colossus.”

“Fucking hell,” said Kyle. “What do we do, Captain?”

“Hurry, Sergeant Garrick, that’s what!”

Price and Kyle laid fire on the guards starting to surround them while running through to a hole in the ground and jumping through it.

Ghost said, “Sir, as much as I hate to say it, you’re going to have to take it slow down in the sewers.”

“Why’s that, Simon?”

“I’m detecting heavy amounts of explosives planted all over the walls and floors. Might be proximity mines.”

“All right,” said Price. “Kyle, keep an eye out for trip-mines.”

“Yes, sir,” said Kyle.

They crept through the sewers, using their night vision to spot and sneak around the proximity mines, while also taking out any guards patrolling down here before they could spot them in the darkness.

“All right, you’re coming up on a wall. Plant a breaching charge. Alex should be on the other side.”

“Let’s hope he’s still kicking,” said Price, as Kyle planted a breaching charge on the wall.

They stood to the sides of the wall as Kyle hit the charge detonator, and the wall exploded and crumbled before them. 

Price and Kyle quickly cleared out the room of guards without hitting Alex, who was strapped half-naked to a chair. He was covered in lacerations, bruises, dirt, and blood, and was practically skin and bones, save for his prosthetic leg; his metallic augmented one had been replaced with a cheaper plastic one.

“Alex, can you hear me?” said Price.

Alex opened his eyes and groaned for a moment.

“He’s in bad shape, sir,” said Kyle.

“I don’t care, we need him alive,” said Price.

“…Gaz? Price?” said Alex weakly.

“It’s us, mate,” said Kyle as he used a crowbar to cut open the chains binding Alex to his chair.

Then they heard explosives coming from the tunnels.

“What the bloody hell’s going on, Ghost? Talk to me!”

“They’re detonating the C4 charges down there. And the bombing run’s about to start, we’ve got to get out of here, sir! Farah and the others are trying to buy you some time by thinning the herd on the upper floors, but we’ve got to leave soon!”

“…Farah?” said Alex.

“That’s right mate. You’re going to see her again,” said Price as he helped Alex back onto his feet, and gave him a stim shot. Alex grunted at this. 

“On your feet, soldier! We are leaving!”

Alex, Kyle, and Price ran out of solitary confinement, and through the exploding tunnels.

“To the right!” Price yelled as the tunnel exit they were heading for collapsed, and they headed the other way.

Soap said over comms, “Price! We’re boarding Nikolai’s plane now via the hook! Where the hell are you, over!”

“On our way!” Price yelled, as a hole in the ceiling collapsed ahead of them. They could see a cloud of green gas coming from behind them.

“Fuck… Nova Seven…” said Alex, who began to hyperventilate, and collapse.

“Alex! Alex! You all right?” shouted Kyle.

“Leave me here…” said Alex.

“We ain’t doin’ that, Alex,” shouted Kyle.

“Price!” yelled Soap. “We can’t find you!”

“Then this should help!” yelled Price as he shot a flare round up through the hole in the ceiling with his grenade launcher.

“Got you,” said Soap. “I know what we can do here.”

“Well, whatever you’re going to do, Soap, do it fast!” yelled Price as the gas clouds were closing in on them.

A rope was sent down via Nikolai’s chopper at the sight of the flare. Price attached his belt’s carabiner to the rope.

“Come on, Kyle, grab Alex!”

“Yes, sir!” shouted Kyle as he pulled Alex off the ground, carried him over to the rope, and wrapped a spare belt around Alex’s waist, then attached a carabiner to Alex’s belt. Kyle followed suit himself before the rope was yanked upward seconds before the gas reached them, and they flew upwards as the gulag’s various floors started to explode beneath them. They were pulled up to Nikolai’s chopper as the gulag was bombed beneath them.

“Thank God,” said Kyle, wiping his forehead as they pulled themselves and Alex aboard the chopper.

“Can you get us away from those bombers, Nikolai,” said Soap, who was in the back of the chopper with the others.

“What do you think I’m trying to do?” said Nikolai as he started popping flares as the Ultranationalist MiGs approached them.

“Alex!” said Farah. “You’re alive!”

“Doesn’t feel like it,” said Alex. “Farah, listen to me… if I start acting bizarre, and I start to try and hurt one of you, promise you’ll put a bullet in me.”

“What? Why?”

“That piece of shit, Makarov… he knew I was a double agent within Perseus… Someone must’ve tipped him off. He shot me before they made their escape from Colossus in an ‘evacuation helicopter’, one piloted by another member of his Inner Circle… left me for dead.” Alex laughed. “He underestimated my ability to cheat death and crawl my way out of sticky situations.”

Farah smiled.

“But someone found me again. It was Hadir. He’s the one who brought me here. He’s… he’s who Khaled Al-Asad really is.”

Farah’s eyes went wide, before she grimaced. “That damned brother of mine!”

“He may not be himself either,” said Alex. “Listen, while I was trapped in that gulag, they fed me… some kind of poison… Nova Seven… if it doesn’t kill you, it drives you crazy… makes your mind vulnerable… vulnerable enough to turn you against your own… I don’t know how I managed to keep myself under control… if I actually did.”

“You’re telling us that this… Nova Seven… is capable of brainwashing people?” said Kyle.

“I’ve never heard of something like this…” said Farah.

“But I know someone who has,” said Price as he frowned.

Farah said to Alex, “You’re a freedom fighter, Alex. We’re not going to kill you. You’re our brother in arms.”

“Yeah,” said Soap. “Nikolai, we’ve got to get Alex out of here.”

“ _Da_ , I know a place.”

Price got a phone call. He picked up his smartphone. “Yes… It’s bloody good to hear your voice, mate… What? Section, are you sure… Damn it… All right, thanks for letting us know… What? What do you mean they’re bloody gone! All right, I’m sorry… If we find them, we’ll look for them. I promise. Thanks again for the intel.” Price hung up the phone.

“Who was that, Captain?” said Kyle.

“An old friend,” frowned Price. “Looks like we’re all freedom fighters now,” he said as he looked at Farah.

“What do you mean?” said Farah.

“It’s Shepherd,” said Price. “He didn’t just disavow Task Force 141 to become a war hero. He’s the one who tipped Makarov off about Alex. He’s working for Perseus.”

The others’ jaws dropped.

“Shepherd’s really crossed the line now,” said Soap.

“He was never on our side to begin with,” said Price.

“We’ve been betrayed…” said Alex.

“Have to trust someone to be betrayed,” said Price. “I never did.”

Alex said, “If I live, you’re going to have to call me something other than Alex. That name’s too suspicious.”

Farah said, “What do you think we should call you?”

Alex said, “Well… after he shot me, I heard Makarov call me a pest…” Smiling, Alex said, “Remember when I crawled out of Barkov’s chemical weapons depot with one leg, kind of like a roach?”

Farah said, “Yeah?”

“So, call me that. Call me Roach.”

Farah smiled. 

“Welcome back from the brink, mate,” said Kyle.

Alex said, “Price, were you talking to David Mason a second ago?”

“Yeah. How’d you know?”

“You called him Section. Do you trust him?”

“With my life,” said Price.

“What’s he doing right now?”

“Being sent on a mission to an old safe house of Makarov’s in Verdansk.”

Alex’s eyes went wide. “Shit… if he’s being sent by Shepherd to find intel there, and Shepherd’s working for Perseus...”

Ghost said, “What are you saying, Al- Roach?”

“That safe house is a gold mine. It’s got Makarov’s operations playbook stashed on a computer connected to Perseus’s global network. It’s the only way we’ll figure out what to do about the global terrorist attack Perseus is planning… Something called ‘Global Fission.’ And if Shepherd gets his hands on that…”

“He’s gonna make the intel disappear,” said Ghost.

“Along with Mason.” said Price.

“We’re already in Verdansk,” said Kyle. “We should go after the intel and get it before they do.”

“Not a bad idea,” said Farah, “but shouldn’t we heal Roach first?”

“I’ll be fine,” said Roach. “I’ve lived this long. I just need to find a spot to rest.”

“Then let’s get it done, yeah?” said Kyle.

Price nodded. 

“For most people, this’d be a suicide mission. But not for the 1-4-1,” said Price. “Nikolai, we’re changing course now.”

“Where are we off to, Price?”

“Ask Roach.”

“Who the hell is Roach?”

**FEDERATION DETENTION CAMP, THE AMAZON JUNGLE, BRAZIL**

**YEAR 2025**

**JESSICA MASON**

Jessica was sweating half-to-death in this cell she was being kept in somewhere in the jungle. She hadn’t been allowed to eat or drink for days.

She could hear her sister crying in the cell across the hall.

“Sis, talk to me.”

“…they keep feeding me food with gunpowder in it… I think I’m starting to see things that aren’t there…” said Savannah. “I want to go home.”

“We’re going to get out of here, sis... Somehow,” said Jessica, looking down.

“The prison warden, he did… terrible things… to me.”

“He didn’t… to you… I mean, did he?”

“He did. It hurt.”

 _That sick fuck…_ said Jessica. _If we get the chance to escape, he’s the first of these fuckers I’m going to kill._

Jessica looked at Savannah’s shadow on the wall; she was curled up in a ball, rocking back and forth and holding her head with her hands.

She then heard footsteps and the slamming of a door. Soon the prison warden, and that man with the glass eye approached them.

“How are Mason’s daughters holding up?”

“The raven-haired one is still being belligerent, sir. She might not be compatible with the Nova Seven treatment.”

“I see… _Y_ Savannah?”

“She’s already starting to break. We’ll begin conditioning her soon.”

“Good,” said the Hispanic man, as he laughed.

“What the fuck are you doing to my sister!” screamed Jessica as she banged on her cell door before the prison warden used a taser on her. Jessica screamed and fell to the floor.

“This one has a strong will,” said the man with the glass eye as he bent over to look Jessica in the eyes. “I will not kill you, girl. Like _su papa, y su hermana,_ you suffer with me, Jessica. You are not going to escape from here unless we tell you to. But trust me… when you are ready, we will tell you to.” Raul said as he held up a blood-stained pendant, “See this pendant? One day you will see it again, and you will remember all you saw and felt while you were here… You will remember all the years of anger and pain. And when you do, Jessica… please, come to me.”

Jessica looked over for a moment as she heard Savannah screaming as she was dragged out of her cell.

“No… not again…” she cried.

“Bastards!” yelled Jessica as she tried to hit Raul with her fists. But Raul grabbed Jessica to make her stop squirming. “Tell that piece of shit to get his hands off of my sister!”

As he got up, he pulled out his SPAS-12. 

“You care about your sister?” he said. He aimed his SPAS-12 at Savannah and cocked it.

“Sir?” said the prison warden. “I thought you said you wanted her alive—”

Then Raul shot the prison warden, sending Savannah into shock.

“Take care of that man’s body,” said Raul to a set of guards. “If I hear that one of you tries to rape the blonde one like that _cabrón_ did, you will meet the barrel of my shotgun as well.”

Raul said to Jessica, “Care clouds judgment. That is why you cannot win. If you want to save her, Jessica… you will suffer with her too.” Raul looked up at the ceiling for a moment, then around. “This world… isn’t yours anymore.”

Raul then looked at another set of guards, and smiled. “Get them both something to eat.”

Jessica backed toward the corner of her cell as a guard opened its door while Savannah was being dragged away screaming.

“No…” said Jessica as one of the guards held out a syringe.

“Savannah…” said Jessica as the guard injected the syringe into her arm after grabbing it, before she began to pass out.

The last thing she heard was Raul talking on his phone with someone.

“Does David know anything?” Raul smiled. “Keep an eye on him then, Salazar. And remember… _en la tierra de los ciegos, el hombre tuerto es rey._ ”

… … … … …

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading; I'll be back as soon as I can with more! :)

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this! Apologies if there isn't much action going on in this part of the story yet, but I decided to publish it as it was mainly because of how cool the ending seemed to me! Let me know what you think of it in the comments; I will try to come up with more additions to it in my free time!


End file.
